Employees ought to get to reap the advantages of technological advances, not simply executives, Sanders stated.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) is asking for the usual work week to be shortened from 5 to 4 days.
On Twitter on Tuesday, Sanders stated that technological developments enable for much less labor from employees, however are at the moment solely used to pad the pockets of company executives.
“With exploding know-how and elevated employee productiveness, it’s time to maneuver towards a four-day work week with no lack of pay,” he wrote. “Employees should profit from know-how, not simply company CEOs.”
The senator shared an article detailing the results of a four-day work week trial that was not too long ago run within the U.Okay. The six-month trial consisted of 61 firms and organizations, encompassing round 3,000 employees.
Sanders additional elaborated on his stance on shortening the work week in a CBS Information interview on Sunday. The present “revolution” in know-how places tens of millions of employees liable to shedding their jobs, whereas executives are capable of hoard much more wealth, he stated.
By way of know-how, “we’re speaking a few transformational second all through the world and the US. I would like working folks to be concerned,” he said.
“If there’s a know-how that may improve employee productiveness, who advantages from that? Simply the man who owns the corporate? Or does the employee profit?” he continued. “So if we are able to scale back the workweek, is {that a} unhealthy factor? It’s an excellent factor. However I don’t need to see the folks on prime merely be the one beneficiaries of this revolution in know-how.”
Labor unions and even company teams have stated {that a} four-day work week might quickly grow to be normal. In an Ernst & Younger survey in 2022, 40 % of firms surveyed in regards to the “future of labor” stated they both have already got a four-day work week or are working towards implementing one.
The 40-hour, five-day work week wasn’t at all times the usual for a full-time employee within the U.S. — within the 1800s, it was typical for workers to work six or all seven days of the week, with extraordinarily lengthy work days. Because of labor unions, nonetheless — and their well-known Might Day strike — the U.S. work day was shortened to eight hours within the late 1800s. Congress later shortened the usual work week to 40 hours, unfold over 5 days, in 1940.
In fact, there are still many workers within the U.S. who work greater than 5 days every week, or who work multiple part- or full-time jobs.
Although productiveness is now higher than ever, compensation for employees has lagged far behind for the reason that precipitous rise of U.S. neoliberalism within the Nineteen Eighties; in response to the Financial Coverage Institute, whereas productiveness has risen by 65 % for the reason that late Nineteen Seventies, hourly pay has solely risen by 18 %. On the identical time, CEOs, reaping the advantages of elevated employee productiveness, noticed their pay skyrocket by a staggering 1,460 %.
